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Administrative Leadership Team Challenge - The Intervention (Team)

One easy technique for conducting a root cause analysis is to use the 5 Whys. To do this, engage in at least five steps to dig deeper and find the cause of a problem. See 5 Whys: Quickly Getting to the Root of a Problem.

Administrators function as diagnosticians in their schools. In addition to their various other roles, the role of doctor and healer is one of the most fundamental. An administrator needs to diagnose the school’s “illness,” and develop a plan of treatment to affect a cure. A root-cause analysis can be used to identify the underlying cause of the illness, leading to the most effective treatment. Just like a good doctor, an administrator knows that treating the symptoms only provides temporary relief; to really heal, the root of the problem needs to be fixed.

Last week, your administrative leadership team conducted an analysis of sample data and identified one instructional goal for the school based on the areas of concern. Now that you have identified the fundamental problem, you will develop a strategy or intervention to address the problem and meet your instructional goal. It is important to discuss how you will implement your strategy, including implications for your intervention on the school’s master schedule.

Administrative Leadership Team Challenge:
Based on the root cause of the problem, identify an appropriate strategy/intervention to achieve your instructional goal. Assess the implications to a preset master schedule.


You are not restricted to using the ELC discussion forum for your team challenge. Feel free to use a collaborative tool, such as a Google Doc or Wiki Space, or consider having a synchronous chat (please save a copy of the chat log). If you choose not to use the ELC discussion forum, please be sure to give both your instructor and instructor support access to whatever format you use, and use your team's weekly discussion thread to note where to find the information.
Directions
  1. The Facilitator should create a new thread in the team discussion forum entitled Week 3: The Intervention.
  2. Access your school's schedule. See master schedule samples on the right.
  3. Use the questions below to guide your team discussion in response to the team challenge:

    • What is the fundamental problem?
    • What strategies or interventions will help you to solve the problem and achieve your instructional goal?
    • Who implements the strategy?
    • What resources/funding are necessary to implement this strategy?
    • Is the intervention something that can be taken care of by flexible grouping, or is it something more aggressive that would impact a major revision of the schedule?
    • How will your strategy or intervention address students with special needs?
    • Within the parameters of a regular schedule, how will you revise the schedule to accommodate that need or strategy, or will the present schedule accommodate that strategy? For example, for a math intervention, how would you divide the existing course periods or use flexible grouping to provide additional assistance in math to accomplish your goal?
    • Who needs to have common planning time?
    • How will you measure success?

  1. By midnight Monday, your team should come to consensus on one strategy or intervention from the team challenge. Also, your team should identify changes needed to the master schedule that will allow you to accommodate that strategy. The team’s Reporter should post your team’s response in a clearly labeled thread in your team discussion forum.


Administrative Action Plan - Part 1 (Individual)

Remember to place articles you identify for your bibliography, in the designated folder in the Resources section (tab) of the ELC. In addition to uploading the file, it would be helpful if you included the APA citation and a one-sentence summary of the article.

Last week, your administrative leadership team conducted a needs assessment and used sample data to develop a measurable, worthwhile, and realistic instructional goal. For Part 1 of your Administrative Action Plan, you will summarize and describe the instructional goal, and support the rationale for your team’s vision. To support your ideas, you will integrate research and practice by citing articles from theResource Library (or other relevant articles) that focus on creating appropriate instructional goals and developing and stewarding a vision.

Directions:
  1. Read the Administrative Action Plan Part 1 directions. Also, carefully review the Administrative Action Plan Rubric to gain an understanding of how your plan will be scored at the end of the course.
  2. Complete Part 1 of your Administrative Action Plan, focusing on your instructional goal and school vision.
  3. Post your completed Administrative Action Plan Part 1 to the appropriate section of the Gradebook by the end of the week.
You will receive feedback from your instructor on Part 1. You will have the opportunity to revise this part before submitting your final plan at the end of the course.